Iowa City West holds off Linn-Mar to win state title

IOWA CITY — Iowa City West boys swim coach Byron Butler knew his team was an underdog from the start of Saturday's state meet.

"We knew we had a big hill to climb," he said. "If you looked at the scoring coming in, we weren't the favorite. Our mentality was that we are swimming to win and we had to chase."

His Trojans did exactly that. In a day that the lead went back and forth between West and MVC rival Linn-Mar, it came down to the "little things," according to Butler.

West, which last won a title in 2020, held off Linn-Mar to take the title with 224 points in a thrilling meet at the UI Campus Recreation and Wellness Center pool. The Lions scored 220 points to post the best finish in school history.

"We just kept chipping away," Butler said. "We had some guys in those B finals that we didn't have last year and that was the difference."

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West won two events, both relays. In the first event of the meet, the 200-yard medley relay, Butler's team made a statement. Seeded third entering the event, the Trojans got a 19.87 anchor from Oliver Mikulski to out-touch Linn-Mar for the win.

"That did set the tone," Butler said. "From top to bottom today, everybody filled their role and we were able to pull it off."

Linn-Mar Coach George Durin had nothing but praise for West's effort and that of his team as well.

"We wanted to win coming in," said the first-year Lions coach. "We left it all in the pool and to still lose to a great West team that Byron has put together. "We've been going back and forth all year. Nobody deserves it more than them.

Durin's team won three events, two coming from senior Parker Macho, who defended his state titles in the 200 individual medley and setting a new state record (46.58) in winning the 100 butterfly.

"It has been a great run," Macho said of his career. "I was pleased with my individual performances and our team was great today. I just wish we could have done a little more."

Cedar Rapids Washington's Andrew Seifert also won a pair of events. He became the first Warrior swimmer since 2016 to win a state title. He set state records in the preliminaries of the 100 freestyle and 100 breaststroke and backed those times up with winning efforts on Saturday, helping the Warriors to an eighth-place team finish with 124 points.

"(Friday) was about records for him and today was about winning state titles," said Washington Coach Matt Sinnott. "He had two great races, especially in the 100 free. Finn Martin is a great swimmer and Andrew did a great job of holding him off.

Newton’s Martin was the defending state 100 champion. He was able to defend his title in the 50 free. Other winners were Carroll's Teagen Renze in the 200 freestyle, West Des Moines Valley's Will Van Zee in the 500 freestyle, and Southeast Polk's Desmond Ortega in the 100 backstroke.

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IHSAA State Swim Meet

At UI Campus Recreation and Wellness Center

Team standings: 1. IC West 224. 2. Linn-Mar 220, 3. Waukee 175, 4. Waukee NW 162, 5. WDM Valley 158, 6. Cedar Falls 143, 7, Dubuque Hempstead 137, 8. CR Washington 124, 9. WDM Dowling 122, 10. Boone 94, 11. Carroll 89, 12. Newton 86, 13. SC West 84, 14. Dubuque Senior 82, 15. SE Polk 63, 16. IC High 59, 17. Ankeny 51, 18. Pleasant Valley 28, 19. Grinnell 27, 20. CB Lewis Central 16, 21. Decorah 11, 22. Ottumwa 7, 23. Spencer 5, 24. Mason City 5.

EVENT RESULTS

(Top 3 and Gazette-area finishers)

200-yard medley relay: 1. IC West (Ethan Landon, Jack Tunwall, Winston Fan, Oliver Mikulski) 1:31.14, 2. Linn-Mar (Maxwell Macho, Parker Macho, Carter Byers, Clayton Treharne) 1:31.53, 3. Cedar Falls 1:32.49, 7. (tie) CR Washington (Gavin Lucas, Andrew Seifert, Remy Barton, Harry O'Donnell) 1:36.14, 14. Decorah (Jackson Leuenberger, Brennan Dean, Weston Cote, Ian Giddings) 1:40.06, 18. CR Jefferson (Hayden Brown, Rexton Travagiakis, Christopher Esno, Sam Martin) 1:40.96

200 para freestyle: 1. Jaiden Lovelace (SC West) 2:55.23

200 freestyle: 1. Teagen Renze (Carroll) 1:37.20, 2. Will Van Zee (WDM Valley) 1:37.49, 3. Carson Hoak (SC West) 1:39.21, 4. Philip Berry-Stoelze (ICH) 1:39.89, 6. Hudson Huberg (ICW) 1:39.89, 7. Peter Wittnebel (CRW) 1:40.33, 9. Rylee Sieren (LM) 1:40.97, 14. Peyton Adair (LM) 1:46.28, 22. Nik Polyak (ICH) 1:50.30, 23. Ruhan Raghwani (LM) 1:50.39, 31. Joey Cariens (ICW) 1:51.57

200 individual medley: 1. Parker Macho (LM) 1:47.61, 2. Ben Susil (WDM Dowling) 1:51.35, 3. Abd Ul-Haq (Dub. Hemp.) 1:52.79, 5. Clayton Treharne (LM) 1:53.72, 15. Nikolai Paulson (ICW) 2:01.96, 20. Jack Tunwall (ICW) 2:03.25, 26. Evan Staber (ICW) 2:05.17, 28. Ethan Levisay (CRW) 2:05.35

50 para freestyle: 1. Max Heiar (Dub. Senior) 26.74, 2. Nash Gehrls (CRK) 26.82, 3. Kale Lincoln (SE Polk) 30.73.

50 freestyle: 1. Finn Martin (Newton) 20.06, 2. Isaac Clark (Boone) 20.63, 3. Sam Weaver (CF) 20.79, 5. Oliver Mikulski (ICW) 20.88, 6. Maxwell Macho (LM) 21.04, 8. Braydon Calonder (ICH) 21.57, 12. Gavin Lucas (CRW) 21.70, 18. Brody Lamos (CRK) 21.91, 26. Sam Martin (CRJ) 22.92, 27. Everett Burr (LM) 22.24

100 butterfly: 1. Parker Macho (LM) 46.58 (new state record), 2. Winston Fan (ICW) 49.25, 3. Bryer Pearson (Ankeny) 49.60, 5. Ethan Landon (ICW) 50.31, 0. Carter Byers (LM) 51.76, 16. Weston Cote (Dec.) 54.00, 20. Remy Barton 54.14, 22. Alex Rouwenhorst (ICW) 54.61, 24. Everett Burr (LM) 54.63

100 para freestyle: 1. Austen Lovelace (SC West) 1:13.62, 2. Sawyer Corcoran (C'ville) 1:46.62

100 freestyle: 1. Andrew Seifert (CRW) 43.60, 2. Finn Martin (Newton) 43.69, 3. Teagen Renze (Carroll) 44.39, 4. Philip Berry-Stoelze (ICH) 45.26, 5. Hudson Huberg (ICW) 45.63, 15. Braydon Calonder (ICH) 47.99

500 freestyle: 1. Will Van Zee (WDM Valley) 4:22.76, 2. Drew Dieke (Waukee) 4:35.18, 3. Wesley Mooney (WDM Dowling) 4:35.50, 6. Peter Wittnebel (CRW) 4:41.24, 7. Rylee Sieren (LM) 4:43.07, 13. Peyton Adair (LM) 4:50.80, 14. Bradyn Weis (LM) 5:00.00, 16. Nikolai Paulson (ICW) 5:01.27, 18. Nik Polyak (ICH) 4:57.16 22. Remy Barton (CRW) 4:58.06, 28. Joey Cariens (ICW) 5:01.07

200 freestyle relay: 1. IC West (Oliver Mikulski, Link Ortman, Winston Fan, Hudson Huberg) 1:24.23, 2. Dubuque Hempstead 1:25.19, 3. Cedar Falls 1:25.42, 10. Linn-Mar (Maxwell Macho, Carter Byers, Everett Burr, Rylee Sieren) 1:26.55, 13. IC High (Philip Berry-Stoelze, Nik Polyak, Soren Kenlin, Braydon Calonder) 1:28.93, 16. CR Washington (Gavin Lucas, Anthony Trotta, Harry O'Donnell, Peter Wittnebel) 1:29.60, 20.

Decorah (Dane Burns, Landon Humpal, Max Grimstead, Ian Giddings) 1:30.24, 23. CR Jefferson (Hayden Brown, Rexton Travagiakis, Christopher Esno, Sam Martin) 1:30.68

100 para backstroke: 1. Max Heiar (Dub. Senior 1:05.72), 2. Nash Gehrls (CRK) 1:11.78, 3. Austen Lovelace (SC West) 1:23.60

100 backstroke: 1. Desmond Ortega (SE Polk) 48.87, 2. Ethan Landon (ICW) 49.58, 3. Carson Hoak (SC West) 50.19, 4. Clayton Treharne (LM) 50.93, 6. Maxwell Macho (LM) 51.49, 17. Brody Lamos (CRK) 53.57, 18. Hayden Brown (CRJ) 53.88, 22. Gavin Lucas (CRW) 54.48, 23. Link Ortman (ICW) 54.79, 25. Jackson Leuenberger (Dec.) 55.31, 28. Ruhan Raghwani (LM) 55.92

100 para breaststroke: 1. Kale Lincoln (SE Polk) 1:27.26, 2. Jaiden Lovelace (SC West). 2:15.35

100 breaststroke: 1. Andrew Seifert (CRW) 53.40, 2. Sam Weaver (CF) 54.84, 3. Winston Fan (ICW) 55.28, 11. Jack Tunwall (ICW) 59.49

28. Todd Barker (CRW) 1:01.62, 30. Rial Shriver (ICW) 1:01.86

400 freestyle relay: 1. Linn-Mar (Parker Macho, Rylee Sieren, Carter Byers, Clayton Treharne) 3:04.46, 2. CR Washington (Remy Barton, Gavin Lucas, Peter Wittnebel, Andrew Seifert) 3:06.23, 3. WDM Valley 3:06.96, 5. IC West (Nikolai Paulson, Oliver Mikulski, Ethan Landon, Hudson Huberg) 3:06.96, 13. IC High (Philip Berry-Stoelze, Nik Polyak, Doren Kenlibn, Braydon Calonder) 3:16.87, 16. Decorah (Weston Cote, Dane Burns, Max Grimstead, Jackson Leuenberger) 3:19.49

Comments: amir.prellberg@thegazette.com